Allianz FL Division 4 2013

[upandaway]

I'm a new poster but have been following this forum a long time . I want you to know my intentions are good, unfortunately I have noticed some new users coming on here and posting materiel you would expect to see from some of the luthers on Hoganstand. (Rant over)

First of all i want to say I was impressed with Offaly in the Obyrne cup,I was actually proud leaving the Kildare game a feeling i haven't felt since we surprisingly beat Monaghan in the qualifiers a few years back.

We are a proud footballing county and expect to be competing in higher divisions in the league but for me its all about what happens when we go to Croke park in a number of weeks to play a highly (possibly) over rated Kildare side ,By no means am i expecting a win but we gave Kildare a proper game for 15 minutes last year then they just played with us ,Pat Spillane made the point on the Sunday game that night it was men versus boys ,I am expecting a lot more this time around.

Alan Mcnamee is back playing good football, i have being impressed with him at any game I saw him this year hopefully hes form stays good for the rest of the year.
Brian Conner is working very very hard and looks like he actually is enjoying playing for the county something that was missing a when he was younger.These are two lads who have the potential to dictate a match at any level when they are on form.

The lads look relatively fit and was impressed they got a win down in Waterford and up in Letrim especially with the players that were available to play .

Tipperary is going to be a very tough game but promotions is there for the taking , McDonald is a smart man ,it was rumored that Offaly trained close to some league fixtures I'm confident that wont be the case Sunday hopefully they are fit and ready for battle .

It will be interesting to see how Tipp will play I am expecting there usual defensive style and for them to try and break quick,I wonder will that change since Offaly have tried to apply a similar system.

Two concerns I would have are

Which one of the defenders will mark Barry Grogan he is a really good footballer and we have no real man maker,I must admit i would be worried if i seen shane sullivan pick him up as i don't think he has the pace.

Lack of scoring threat,
Whats the story with Niall is he available to start?
Is Cunninghams suspension over?
Antons gone
Ken Casey thankfully is just back and doing well but Sunday will be a massive test for him. In my opinion these lads are the best scoring forwards available to McDonald and Sunday is to soon to expect much from them if there even available, we will be depending on the lads out the field to chip in with the scores.
Hopfully they can produce the goods.

[Killeighman]

My starting line up
1 A Mulhall
2 B Darby
3 McConway
4 Rigney
5 Carroll
6 Moloney
7 Brazil
8 Connor
9 A McNamee
10 Guilfoyle
11 W Mulhall
12 N Darby
13 Casey
14 N McNamee
15 Cunningham

i would like to see gavin sheil get a run but it doesnt look very likely

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

According to the Tribune, Peter Cunningham's suspension is up and he would be avaialble for the game at the weekend, but is struggling with a hamstring after gettting injured with the club last weekend. Matt Mitchell and Pender are doubts, while John Moloney should be fit for the weekend.

Looking forward to this game. We can have no complaints now as the ground will be firm and the forecast is good weather wise. Some players are hitting a bit of form, Alan Mc and Guilfoyle, are 2 that spring to mind. I am hooping to see a more positive approach, with less bunching in our backline, and more direct ball into Niall, who should also be fit to start.
Tough call around the middle, Richie D has not started many games, but played well v Carlow, but Alan Mc will probably get the nod. Tipp half backs ate us on the breaking ball last year, and swarmed down the field. I think we will deal with this better, and fouling in the scoring areas need to be kept to a minimum, (obvious) but vital in this game.

The one thing that may hamper us (and Alan Mul is a fine all round goalkeeper) is the kick out strategy. For an accurate free taker, Alan is unwilling or unable to vary the kickouts. Often teams win 4 or 5 kick outs with a few preplanned moves, but we have not executed any of these during the league.

Best of luck to the team on Sunday, and hopefully a good crowd turns out!

[Killeighman]

I agree about mulhalls kick outs. He is a great all round player as you said. Gavin Sheil has one of the best kickouts i have seen. The ball does'nt hanging in the air and he can pick out his man. He also has a longer kicking range

[Lone Shark]

Jaysus. I'm all for standing up for a fellow clubman (at what used to be a fellow club man of yours) but there are very few Offaly players who are nigh on undroppable when fit due to exemplary play in their position, and Alan Mulhall is one of the very few in that regard. I've never come away from a game where he started in goals and thought that he was poor - he's always been either solid or excellent. We've enough problems without tinkering with an aspect of our game where we are in good shape.

I'd also argue that goalies are a bit different from the norm in the sense that when you give a goalie the jersey, you don't mess around and try others there as well - it's all about confidence in that position and while it's all very well to give your sub keeper a few try outs in challenge games, generally you want to show faith in the man you've chosen. Not unlike a kicker in American Football, once they've been dropped, they tend to lose the single minded sense of confidence that made them a good option in the first place.

A bit more work on the kickouts is a fair shout, but I'd be surprised if that was really any of Mulhall's work. I'd say it's more likely the case that so much work has to be done on the basics of the way we want to play football that things like pre-planned kick out moves are a luxury we can't afford, time-wise.

[townman]

Mulhall is a great goalkeeper one of the best in the game great shot stopper. the problems are out the field not the number 1, if they were all as good as Alan Mulhall we be in division 1

[DAF]

Mulhall along with Niall McNamee are the first 2 names on the team sheet.Mulhall is a terrific goalie and personally Offaly don't have good enough players at the moment to be trying anything fancy with kickouts.You'd want to have huge confidence in your wing backs to be trying a short kickouts strategy.

Is it just me or are his kickouts not as long this year as they were in previous years.Maybe its the bad weather weve been having but he doesnt seem to be getting the same distance on his kickouts this year.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

A bit of perspective here lads,
1) Alan Mul is our most consistent player and I would not drop him at all, in fact he is one of the top 5 keepers in the country
2) Not in the slightest talking about short kick outs, I'm talking about a situation like Eoin Carroll, Ross Brady, and Richie Dalton up against 1 midfielder and a small wingforward to one side of the pitch, and we go long down the other side. Play the percentages so to speak
There doesnt need to be a huge amount of work on this, but its an observation, and an area that I would like to see used better. But it does not entail short kickouts. Its a fundamental part of club teams work that they will have an option to try and win possession.

Sure have a look on Sunday and see how it go's!

[brownie]

looks like we are going close to our championship 15 for sunday...think its a strong enough forward unit..would be concerned on size at 3 and 6 but i think these 2 lads will be man marking and not playing positions picked.hopefully the support will be there on sunday to get the lads over the line..ive been critical here in the last month of the managements tactics etc but looks like they have been moving closer to the best 15 all along.still think promotion is the key to this squad moving forward..best of luck lads..

[summerindublin]

Offaly are 6/4 with PP for Sunday with Tipp @4/6, this looks a fair bet on Offaly me thinks.

[clearhead]

Best of luck to our lads tomorrow.

[townman]

best of luck to offaly today, its one of the biggest games they have had in the last few years.
plus it will be the best side they have meet in this division, make no mistake Tipp aren't to bad
i think they have 4 that are playing in the munster under 21 final during the week, and have won
a number a underage titles in munster the last few years, winning the all ireland minor in 2011.

its hard to see offaly getting the win on the last few displays, but if they can click today and Niall Mc
can hit form they might nick this by a 1 or 2.

[High School Musical]

Lar Corbett, Una Healy, Pat Shortt, Babs Keating, Frank Patterson, Michael Lowry, the Clancy Brothers, Nicky English, - vi har slått dem alle sammen. Vi har slått dem alle sammen. Roz Purcell, can you hear me? Roz Purcell, your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

All you can say is well done on achieving promotion!
The football was pretty hard to watch at times but there were some great displays. We looked like we could pull away after half time but again, nearly shot ourselves in the foot. Strong performance from Brian Connor, Eoin Carroll, Brian Darby, Guilfoyle be times, and Ken showed glimpses when given any sort of ball. Micky Brazil showed some good stuff at times.

That second half was the most unstructured half of football I ever saw, we had all our men back, and yet tipp had men loose all over the place. It was like an u8 game.
Spoke about the kick outs and a change of plan, but we took the biscuit with the number of short ones! However we held the ball well during the first half and it threw Tipp a bit who were bunching out the field waiting to hoover up the breaks.

Finally, Nialler, great early point and 2 super goals. Would be great for him to lift a bit of silverware on the 27th, and massive for these lads now who will get 2 games in Croker.

[Lone Shark]

I have to say I was quite impressed with what I saw from Offaly today - not in the sense of playing enjoyable open football, but in terms of implementing a logical, thoughtful game plan and doing so effectively throughout.

Discipline in the tackle was generally good, though discipline once the free was given very definitely wasn't, and that endless handpassing is tough to watch, but I thought the lads did a good job of supporting each other, of not getting caught out as the last man, and of killing the clock in the first half. That wind today was very severe - if we were four points down at the break, I'd have said it was a decent performance - to be one up was incredible.

A few lads also nailed down their championship places today too I'd say. Eoin Carroll and Michael Brazil were excellent at wing back, Graham Guilfoyle continued his journey back to relevance and carried the ball well and purposefully, while I thought that Ken Casey made a lot of great runs and was very important in a quiet sort of way. Obviously Niall Mac and Brian Darby were excellent while Seán Pender was also really good, but those guys were always going to start against Kildare if fit.

Well done all round though - this was the first proper modern display I've seen from an Offaly senior football team in a long time.